


Times Not Up

by xRainRainGoAwayx



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer, 5SOS
Genre: 5SOS - Freeform, Bromance, Count Down, F/M, M/M, Other, love watch, relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 17:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3618189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRainRainGoAwayx/pseuds/xRainRainGoAwayx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one's really sure how it happened, but it did. Humans seemed to be born with it, no explanation given. The clocks in their wrists, that seemed to give a count down, anticipating the One. Some weren't meant to have a One, some were meant to have several; some were meant to have none. But sometimes, even when you are meant to have One, it just doesn't tell you.<br/>This appears to be Luke Hemming's problem. As a young boy he was intrigued with the numbers, printed into his skin; but then they became weird, always changing, sometimes not showing; but never saying the word "unsure". This made him stand out, he's not sure why; he was still nice, he was still a person, but not knowing when or who would be his forever.. it was a rarity in this society.<br/>But he isn't alone; Micheal Clifford has the same issue except he doesn't mind. Micheal always thought finding the one was your choice, he never understood why the watch had to tell you who it was; that's how he'd always thought. But sometimes the fault in a system are the only thing keeping the system running, but those boys just have yet to see it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Times Not Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda sucks right now, a bit longer than expected. This is inspired by a story I read on here, but the author stopped writing it and I figured I'd toy with the idea and began toying with it. I stole the pairing and the "watch" plot, but besides that the rest is mostly mine(some scenes right here are inspired by the original).  
> But uh.. suggestions and criticism is loved and welcomed! Updates coming soon~

"Luke! Wake up, you're going to be late," Luke's mother called, stopping towards the top of the stairs. She stilled in her movements, waiting to hear a sound to know if her youngest son was awake. After half a moment she heard large feet being planted on the floor and a soft sleepy groan could be heard. She smiled and headed back down the stairs, continuing cleaning up the kitchen as her older two sons ate.

Luke sat up, eyes still closed. They'd blinked open then shut again, his body moving to sit on the edge of his bed as he ran a hand through his hair. He opened his eyes and peered at his wrist. The numbers were all sevens, when he went to sleep it was five. He frowned and shook his head, shaking the nagging voice out of his head as he peered at his alarm clock. 7:25 AM it read. He had forty-five minutes before school and twenty minutes before his bus came by. He stood up, stretching all of his muscles before pulling on some clothes.

Once he was dressed in his dark jeans and he'd grabbed a t-shirt, he grabbed his favorite dark grey beanie and slipped it over his head and pulled his shoes up. He walked down the stairs, at times taking two at a time by mistake with his long and clumsy limbs. Once entering the kitchen he kissed his mother's cheek, murmuring a quiet, nearly silent, good morning then nodded at his two brothers before getting out a bowl and pouring himself cereal. He ate standing against the counter before getting sick to his stomach from the tasteless food. It was one of those days, his mind thought. One of those days where nothing seems right and even the simplest thing like the taste of his food would be numbing and flavorless.

Dumping the rest of the bowl's contents into the sink, Luke gave a small wave goodbye and a murmured "see you in a few hours" before he grabbed his bag and was out the door. He walked to the bus stop, slipping his ear buds in and began playing the first song that he tapped on his phone. He was a tall, lanky kid; making him stand over the small little crowd waiting for the bus. Several of the school's jocks stood just as tall, letting him not sticking out so much like a sore thumb. He slouched and soon the bus came. He climbed on and sat on the first seat in the front, it was typically empty; no one wanting to get yelled at or get caught doing anything by the bus driver who wore a near permanent scowl.

Leaning his head on the window, Luke watched at the trees and houses passed by to the short ride to school. The distance to school was fairly short and soon all the kids filled out, entering the two story building. Luke turned up the volume some more before stepping off the bus, making sure the other's words were mere muffled sounds as he walked into the building. Only ten more minutes before class. As he headed up the stairs and into the main entrance, some of the girls giggled and held hands over their whispering lips while several guys just smirked and gave him daggers for eyes, shaking their heads as they muttered low key insults to their friends, earning chuckles. Luke was used to it; his timer didn't work, it didn't even say "unsure", it was a rare case to ever happen and typically it was fixed by a healer, sometimes by an overseer. But no, no one could fix it; it seemed to work for awhile after going to a healer, but then it would glitch and the numbers would bounce from 10 years to 2 years, never staying the same for long.

Just over his music Luke heard the ringing of the bell to go to class. He was seated in first period, copying down the words and dates on the board for his history lesson. Although he was a Junior, Luke was allowed into "seniors only" classes; taking some of the highest level courses the school could give and even then he was bored with them. When his timer first started acting up when he was a little boy, the other kids would see and they'd make weird faces, eventually leaving him alone, thinking he had some weird disease. When it started happening, Luke's mother, Liz, would take him on car rides, telling off random science or history facts she'd looked up the previous hour then would quiz him on the ride back home. Eventually, Luke got bored with the random facts and began hanging around his brothers, listening and watching them read and do their work. He caught on, he was already a smart boy, but being secluded from other kids his age, he got used to being with his brother and a few of their friends.

Eventually, Luke was a Freshman entering high school who had already finished half of the 11th and 12th grade mandatory courses. Liz was proud of her son, and his brothers would always tease him about it but then would brag to their friends about it whenever he was around, always trying to get a blush out of him.

So here the tall blond sat, bored in his history course; writing down dates and years along with names, memorizing battles and their causes. It was all a blur and, he's not sure when, but it was then fourth period and the bell was ringing to signal for lunch time. He snapped out of his daze and made his way to the large room filled with tables, the lines to get food wrapping around three of the four walls of the room. Just like every other day, Luke sat down, taking out his lunch he'd packed the night before, preferring to not wait in the horrendously long lines. Once in awhile someone would come up to him, asking for his history notes or what he got for question five on the math homework, it wasn't everyday, and it wasn't like the person wanted to ask; but Luke always had the answers.

Today, though, was not one of the days someone asked him for something, it was one of those days whee someone came to pick on him. Told you it'd be a bad day, Luke's mind seemed to whisper to itself as two guys came up, one smirking and the other having an amused, hateful look on his face; how he pulled that look off was beyond the poor blonde boy. Soon the words made their way. The insults, the strikes; the meaningless, typical jokes. Luke had heard them for several years, it wasn't the jokes that hurt anymore, it was the fact that no one bothered to try and see past his fault and see the human underneath the timer.

The jokes kept coming, Luke's eyes drifting downwards as they got ruder, the laughs getting louder. But then a set of heavy footsteps made their way to the side of the two boys and they quiet down a bit.

"What do you want Clifford?" one boy growled quietly. Micheal Clifford; his timer had never really worked, it was always stuck on one minutes, since the moment he was born and the little numbers became apart of him. People still talked with him, he knew how to have fun, knew how to make a party; but that's the only time people wanted to be around. At school, he only got bullied once about his timer before the guy learned his lesson. Broke nose, bruised ribs and a hissed threat into his ear that wouldn't be soon forgotten. After that, not much of anyone dared mention timers around him.

"I want you to leave him alone," Micheal answered, his voice lazy and sarcastic in a laid back way. His words were simple and clear, but how they were said were snappish and a light warning.

The two boys glared at Luke as he chanced one more glance at them. People watched the group, but it wasn't a scene where everyone became quiet it was just a scene where half the room turned to watch it unfold. Micheal sat in front of Luke, leaned back in his chair and looked him over. "What's their deal with you?" he asked. "My timer is broken; changes times every day," Luke mumbled. Micheal nodded then stood back up and started walking away towards the doors. As he passed by he muttered words that Luke had thought but never heard. 

"A timer doesn't define a person." And with that, the blue headed boy left the cafeteria.


End file.
